13th December, 2011
AMREF’s Outreach Progamme recently received a generous donation of different assortment of sutures from Synthecon, a South African manufacturer that was established in 2006 to create sutures that are both world class in quality but also affordable in price. The donations handed over by Dr Peter Karungu, Managing Director of the company and received by AMREF’s Director General Dr Teguest Guerma, will go a long way in providing much needed surgical services to those in need in Africa over the next one year.
Speaking during the official presentation, Dr Guerma stressed the importance of African companies supporting African causes in health care . The Outreach Programme aims at treating patients who would otherwise not have access to the healthcare they need. The programme also trains local health teams in extremely rural areas to carry out this work themselves in the future. “The Outreach programme was started in 1957 and remains the hallmark of AMREF’s work and the legacy of the founding fathers, ” stated Dr Guerma. The programme which has recently expanded to West Africa, South Sudan and Ethiopia provides a service that no other organisation is capable of providing- outreach to the hard to reach areas.
Dr Teguest Guerma receives a donation of surgical sutures from Dr Peter Karungu, MD Synthecon South Africa
Speaking during the same event, Dr Rumishael Shoo, Director Health Programmes Development, AMREF, reiterated that apart from the specialised outreach surgeons, AMREF has teams of highly specialised health practitioners from all over the world are constantly mobilized to assist in the outreach work and provide unique services that are not offered by other organisations. This also serves as a capacity building activity.
On his part, Dr Peter Karungu said that he was deeply moved by AMREF’s work and that is why he chose the organisation as a beneficiary. He said that Africans tend to be dependent on aid from the west while we ourselves are capable of helping each other. “We are poor because of our greed” he reflected.
Dr Karungu has committed to subsidising the price of sutures for AMREF. “AMREF touches the lives of women and children in Africa. By giving this small token, I too can touch their lives,” he said in closing.
